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Topic: The water logged dancing swarm (Read 1045 times)

This morning I got a call for a swarm that was hanging in a tree for two or three days. We have been getting alot of rain these few days and when I caught the swarm they did not moving very much at all. I thought they were half drowned. I kept them in a cardboard box for an hour in the sun till they started to move around and act like bees a bit more. Thy went in to the nuc real easy but I saw something different. One bee was doing the waggle dance and then another then 4 or 5 doing the dance on the front entry board . What was going on? Were they telling the other bees about the new real estate was or were they just danceing for joy?John

I have seen a swarm on the side of a house that was being built. The outside wall was just OSB board at this time. There were several waggle dances going on. I wondered if they were discussing a new home location.

Logged

:rainbowflower: Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. :rainbowflower:

Even a swarm has to eat. So it might be they are informing others of a nectar source. It's also possible they are still looking for a home, since the scouts for a swarm do the waggle dance for that also. Normally the waggle is done on drawn comb, but of course, there isn't any yet. I would think they'd do it on the foundation though.